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  3. Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the Un

Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the Un

游客2025-04-19  9
问题     Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the United States outward. While the large Cincinnati-based corporation was no stranger to foreign markets, it usually sold them products that were already familiar to most Americans. Many Japanese families, for instance, swaddle their babies in Pampers diapers, and lots of Venezuelans brush their teeth with Crest. And of course(company executives assumed)Americans at home wanted these same familiar, red-white and blue brands. We might buy foreign-made cars, or chocolates, or cameras but household cleaners and detergents?
    Recently, however, P&G broke with this long-standing tradition. Ariel, a P&G laundry detergent, was born overseas, and is a familiar sight on store shelves in Europe and Latin America. Now bilingual packages of Ariel Ultra, a super-concentrated cleaner, are appearing on supermarket shelves in Los Angeles.
    Ariel’s appearance in the United States reflects demographic changes making Hispanics the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic group. Ariel is a hit with this population. In fact, many Mexican immigrants living in Southern California have been"importing" Ariel from Tijuana, Mexico. "Hispanics knew this product and wanted it," says P&G spokeswoman Marie Salvado. "We realized that we couldn’t convince them to buy(our)other laundry detergents." P&G hopes that non-Hispanic consumers will give Ariel a try too.
    Ariel’s already strong presence in Europe may provide a springboard for the company to expand into other markets as well. Recently P&G bought Rakona, Czechoslovakia’s top detergent maker. Ariel, currently a top seller in Germany, is likely to be one of the first new brands to appear in Czech supermarkets. And Ariel is not the only foreign idea that the company hopes to transplant back to its home territory. Cinch, an Mi-purpose spray cleaner similar to popular European products, is currently being test-marketed in California and Arizona. Traditionally Americans have used separate cleaners for different types of surfaces, but market research shows that American preferences are becoming more like those in other countries.
    Insiders note that this new reverse flow of innovation reflects more sweeping changes at Procter& Gamble. The firm has hired many new Japanese, German, and Mexican managers who view P&G’s business not as a one-way flow of American ideas, but a two-way exchange with other markets. Says Bonita Austin of the investment firm Wertheim-Schroeder, "When you met with P& G’s top managers years ago, you wouldn’t have seen a single foreign face." Today "they could even be in the majority."
    As Procter & Gamble has found, the United States is no longer an isolated market.
    Americans are more open than ever before to buying foreign-made products and to selling US made products overseas. [br] According to the passage, Procter & Gamble hopes to transplant the foreign idea back to its home territory because______.
选项 A、Americans are more likely to buy foreign-made products than before
B、for most Americans foreign products are much more attractive than home-made ones
C、the company has found that foreign-made products are superior to home-made ones in terms of quality
D、the company has hired more foreigners in its top management than before
答案 A
解析 本题的四个选项中，只有A项为正确答案。这可从文中的内容推知，即宝洁公司在产品开发和销售方面进行了很多革新。最后提到，与以前相比美国人在购买外国产品和把国产产品卖出去方面表现得更开放。
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